The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing purified ice and purified water from a source of unpurified water. More particularly, the invention relates to increasing the efficiency of the ice-making and ice-melting functions of the method and apparatus disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,099.
In the aforesaid patent I disclose a method and apparatus for providing purified ice pieces from unpurified water such as tap water. The ice pieces are periodically harvested and collected in a bin, the bottom of which is controllably heated as necessary to melt some of the purified ice pieces and, thereby, provide purified water. I have found that the system disclosed in my aforesaid patent is not as efficient as it might otherwise be due to the fact that the unpurified water is typically at room temperature and must be cooled from that temperature to below the freezing temperature of water in order to form the required ice pieces. Moreover, in melting the purified ice pieces to provide purified water, all of the melting energy is derived from externally of the system or from the refrigerant in the cycled refrigerant path employed to effect freezing. As a consequence, significant additional energy expenditure is required in the cycled refrigerant flowpath.